Huayu: This producer has no bottom line.

Chapter 89 An Unending Supply of Ammunition

Pengcheng, Penguin Building.

When Ren Pingsheng followed the receptionist into the conference room, the two people were already waiting inside.

The man on the left, around thirty-five or thirty-six years old, was dressed in a sharp suit, and his name tag read Xu Liang, Deputy General Manager of the M&A Department at Tencent Investment.

The younger one on the right, with his shirt sleeves rolled up to his forearms, is He Shan, Deputy Director of Operations at Weibo Business Unit.

This lineup is interesting.

Ren Pingsheng sat down opposite him and made his judgment.

In early 2010, Tencent's M&A department was a unique entity.

To put it nicely, it was a strategic reserve; to put it bluntly, it was just a supporting role, far from the glamorous "Nanshan Goldman Sachs" of later generations.

Tencent has not yet experienced the 3Q War that changed the landscape of the Chinese internet. It is still a closed, self-made, knock-off empire.

If the domain name hadn't already fetched an eight-figure price on eName, requiring approval from someone with higher authority, even the vice president probably wouldn't have been mobilized.

Logically speaking, the best time to approach Tencent for investment should be after the 3Q War ends and Tencent fully realizes its potential.

But Ren Pingsheng felt that there was a proper way to play the game now.

Penguin's current business philosophy is simple and brutal: follow other people's paths and leave them with no path to follow.

This domineering attitude is a nightmare for internet peers, but for Ren Pingsheng, it is an opportunity.

Because Tencent hasn't yet embraced a pan-entertainment strategy, the film and television industry is seen as completely unrelated to the internet.

They wouldn't see a film and television company as a threat, and naturally they wouldn't resort to the "copy you and destroy you" tactic.

In other words, penguins today have no hostility towards the penguins, only curiosity.

What Ren Pingsheng wanted to do was to turn this curiosity into a bond of mutual benefit.

"Mr. Ren, tea or coffee?" Xu Liang asked with a smile.

Plain water is fine.

He Shan pushed a bottle of mineral water over, and Xu Liang opened the folder in front of him. Inside were a printout of Ren Pingsheng's email and a background investigation report on Ren Pingsheng.

I've done my homework.

"Mr. Ren," Xu Liang got straight to the point, "you mentioned in your email to President Ma that you hoped to exchange the right to use the domain name for our investment."

He paused for a moment, choosing his words very carefully.

"To be honest, this idea surprised us a bit. As far as we know, your company is engaged in film and television production, which is not closely related to our main business and is not within our investment scope."

Xu Liang's tone was calm and not arrogant, but his stance was very clear.

"If your company has funding needs, we still suggest you consider selling the domain name directly, or cooperating through a long-term lease. We are sincere in our pricing."

really.

Ren Pingsheng unscrewed the bottle of mineral water and took a sip.

This response was expected.

In 2010, Tencent's investment strategy was to only invest in internet companies that were closely related to its own business, either to fill gaps in its own capabilities or to counter competitors.

A small workshop that produces web series is definitely not on their menu.

But Ren Pingsheng didn't plan to tell them about any grand pan-entertainment strategy in advance.

Some things you can only understand after you've learned your lesson.

If you tell Ma Huateng now that film and television will become one of the core assets of Tencent's empire in five years, he will only think you are making empty promises.

Therefore, all you need to do is present the facts and speak in a way that they can understand.

"Mr. Xu," Ren Pingsheng put down his water bottle, "the domain name issue isn't urgent. Let me take five minutes to explain what Shengping Vision does first, and then you can decide whether it's worth investing in."

Xu Liang nodded. "Please."

Ren Pingsheng took out the plan.

"In less than a year since its establishment, Shengping Vision has produced a total of four online video works, two of which were created during its time at Sohu. The three works that have been broadcast have a total of over 1.5 million views across the internet. The short film 'Old Boy,' which is about to be released, has had its copyright bought out by Baidu iQiyi for two million yuan."

He Shan took notes rapidly on his laptop.

"The current team consists of six people, with more than five million in cash on hand, all of which comes from content monetization such as CPS revenue sharing, GG integration, and copyright distribution. We have not received a single penny of external investment."

Xu Liang's expression didn't change much, but he turned to a page of the background report and looked at it in comparison.

"These figures are indeed impressive," Xu Liang admitted. "But the online video industry is still in the money-burning stage. Youku and Tudou have not yet made a profit. The fact that a company of your size can make money shows that its operational efficiency is very high, but it does not mean that it can maintain its current economic benefits after scaling up."

"Mr. Xu," Ren Pingsheng said after he finished speaking, "I know what you want to say: the scale is too small, the ceiling is too low, and it has no strategic value to Tencent."

Xu Liang smiled and did not deny it.

"Then let me look at it from another angle," Ren Pingsheng said, looking at He Shan. "Mr. He, what percentage of Tencent's total revenue did gaming account for last year?"

He Shan looked up. "About 48%."

"Yes, almost half. You could say that games make up half of Tencent's business."

Ren Pingsheng raised one finger.

"Last July, I used a customized drama format to integrate the game's world view into the film's plot, which served as a marketing campaign for 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils'."

He paused for a moment.

"During the airing of that season of 'Unexpectedly,' the Baidu search index for 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils' increased by 340%, and the number of newly registered users increased by 7%."

He Shan's fingers stopped completely.

"In October, JX3 also used a similar approach to deeply integrate into the first season of Diaosi Man, with even more exaggerated results. Because the audience of Diaosi Man and the target users of JX3 highly overlapped, that wave directly helped them quadruple their daily active users."

Xu Liang leaned forward slightly.

Ren Pingsheng knew that this number had struck a chord with him.

Tencent never lacks traffic. With QQ as its super portal, a single pop-up can bring tens of millions of impressions to any game.

The problem is that this simple and crude approach to promotion is becoming less and less efficient, and has even aroused strong resentment from users.

Users have become immune to pop-up ads, resulting in lower click-through rates and higher churn rates.

Penguins have mountains of gold and silver, but they can't find an efficient shovel.

But what if there were a content format that could stitch game elements into visually appealing videos, allowing players to naturally develop an interest in the game while enjoying entertainment and creating memes, and even actively search for and download it?

Isn't this exactly what the penguins have been looking for?

It doesn't harm the user experience; in fact, it can even boost user goodwill.

"President Xu," Ren Pingsheng withdrew his gaze, "Shengping Vision is not a film and television company, but a company that uses content to help internet products acquire customers. Film and television are just a medium. The core capability is to accurately reach the emotions of young users and then turn those emotions into commercial activities."

Xu Liang didn't reply, but his posture had changed.

He Shan closed the laptop lid and spoke for the first time, "Mr. Ren, the conversion data of your previous works is indeed impressive, but how can you guarantee that this conversion will continue to be effective? Netizens' tastes change."

Ren Pingsheng looked at the deputy director in charge of content operations and smiled.

"Mr. He, netizens' tastes may change, but human nature will not."

"If we get tired of short dramas, we can make micro-movies; if we get tired of micro-movies, we can make animation; and if we get tired of animation, we can make variety shows. The format is always changing, but the underlying logic remains the same."

"As long as Tencent's user base remains, LifeView will be able to continuously provide you with resources."